Recently, the giant in the side-necked turtle family, the giant side-necked turtle, has become popular on INS, and many foreign netizens are rushing to raise its non-wild species, which has aroused the envy of domestic turtle lovers. It's just that at the moment of the epidemic, this kind of turtle is temporarily not allowed to be imported, and the number of artificial breeding in China is very small, so most people can only stop and watch.

It is quite strange to say that the reproductive ability of giant side-necked turtles is actually quite strong. The BBC even filmed the spectacular scenes of them laying eggs for this purpose, but even so, giant side-necked turtles are still endangered. fate. Why is this? Don't worry, please read the analysis in this article.

Reason 1: Hongyan troubles water

The giant side-necked turtle is very beautiful, especially its head pattern, which is even more impressive profound. There are sheep-horn-shaped macula on both sides of its head, and there are ring-shaped markings similar to glasses around the eyes. Looking up, there are a pair of circular spots on the top of the head, and some have black dots in the middle, which look like a pair of eyes.

Looking at the carapace, it is reported that the length of the male and female carapace is about 75 cm and 55 cm respectively, and the largest one has been found to be one meter long. And not only is it big, its back armor is also very round and full. Watching the video of the foreign boy stroking its back is really envious of others!

It is precisely because of this beautiful face that many tortoise thieves are attracted, resulting in fewer and fewer wild species.

Reason 2: Jiaolong loses water

The giant side-necked turtle is a deep-water turtle and needs sufficient space for movement. The occupation and development of their habitats have greatly affected their survival and activities, which is one of them.

Secondly, as the habitat is destroyed, their food is getting less and less, although it is not picky eater, they eat fish, shrimp, insects and even some vegetation, but the giant side-necked turtle with huge appetite , there will inevitably be times of starvation.

Leaving the living environment, the giant side not only grows slowly, but also is prone to disease.

Reason 3: Bamboo Baskets for Water

As mentioned above, the spawning scene of the giant side-necked turtle is very spectacular, so how spectacular is it? According to a BBC documentary, during the breeding season, they will lay eggs on the sandbar on the river bank, and each time they can lay more than 100 eggs. During the peak spawning season, thousands of female turtles gather here, looking far away. Going to the dark place, it is spectacular.

However, due to the former tortoise thieves, they usually turn into egg thieves during this period. Therefore, a large nest of turtle eggs produced by the giant side-necked turtles is often like a bamboo basket for water, and there is nothing left.

It is under such pressure that the population of giant side-necked turtles is endangered. Even if there are corresponding protection organizations, effective protection measures have been taken, but the results are still very small, and we can only hope that it will get better and better in the future.